March Madness: Opening-round takeaways

The brackets are set, the action has tipped off, and March Madness has officially arrived. Follow along as theScore highlights key takeaways from the Round of 64 and what the results mean moving forward.

Chase Johnston, March Madness' latest hero

Even Jack Gohlke thinks Chase Johnston is a bad man. In the 2024 NCAA Tournament, Gohlke scored 32 points on 10 triples for Oakland to knock off Kentucky. What made him unique was the fact that over 97% of his made shots on the season were threes. High Point's Johnston is cut from the same cloth, except he took it a step further: All of his 64 made field goals this season were 3-pointers. Despite that resume, Johnston hit the most famous 2-pointer in High Point basketball history Thursday.

That's Johnston streaking to make the game-winning layup in the Panthers' 12-over-5 upset of Wisconsin, which was also his first 2-point basket of the year. Johnston was his usual self from deep in the win, connecting on 4-of-6 attempts from beyond the arc. However, his 1-foot shot will be the one that's remembered.

While Johnston's performance popped, High Point's comeback was far from a one-man show. Rob Martin, Terry Anderson, and Cam'Ron Fletcher all posted double-doubles, marking the first time three players from a double-digit seed accomplished that feat in one game since 1988, according to college basketball statistician Jared Berson.

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Duke, WYD?

Duke is used to making NCAA Tournament history, but not the kind it made Thursday. This year's top overall seed became the first No. 1 to ever trail a No. 16 by double digits at the half of an opening-round game. You read that right, Siena torched Duke in the opening 20 minutes, running up an 11-point edge at the break. Upset watch was officially on.

The Blue Devils nabbing the overall top spot is a bit misleading because this version of Duke isn't the one we saw most of the season. With starters Caleb Evans and Patrick Ngongba sidelined, the ACC champs struggled mightily to find points throughout. Outside of the Boozer brothers, Cameron and Cayden, and Isaiah Evans, the rest of the Blue Devils scored only 14 of 71 total points. That may not have sunk them versus Siena, but they're cooked if that happens against a better team.

The Saints clearly tired down the stretch, scoring just 22 points in the second half. Some of that can be credited to Duke's increased aggression on defense, but Gerry McNamara - yes, that Gerry McNamara - played his starters exclusively until just 10.8 seconds remained. Siena would've been the first NCAA Tournament team to only play its starters in a game since 1979 if fouls hadn't forced a substitution.

In the end, Duke avoided joining Virginia and Purdue in the club of 1-seeds to lose to No. 16s. However, if you had the Blue Devils winning the title in your bracket, you might just be busted.

Nebraska FINALLY gets a win

The statistic sounds more unbelievable each time you read it, but entering the tourney, Nebraska had never won an NCAA Tournament game in the program's entire history. The fourth-seeded Cornhuskers were the only major conference team still winless all time in March Madness. That's "were" because Nebraska handled its business very quickly Thursday, running away from No. 13 Troy thanks to an outrageous shooting performance by Pryce Sandfort. The Cornhuskers' leading scorer torched the nets with a 7-of-12 performance from beyond the arc.

Blowing out the Trojans shows what Nebraska is capable of when its triples are falling. Fred Hoiberg's team is 12th nationally with 40.9% of its points coming from deep. The Huskers hoist it early and often, regardless of whether the shots are dropping. The shots did drop Thursday, and Troy had no chance. If Nebraska can keep that up, the team will be heading home with more than a single all-time NCAA Tournament win.

Madness hits immediately

It took exactly one game for the madness to arrive in this year's NCAA Tournament. The first contest in the Round of 64 was a banger, with Ohio State roaring back from a 15-point halftime deficit to tie it late. That set up a possible game-winner situation for the Horned Frogs, and the 9-seed ran perhaps the most Jamie Dixon late-game set in the history of late-game sets.

Dixon's long been one of the more underappreciated coaches in the country. He's made the NCAA Tournament in 16 of his last 23 years during stops at Pitt and TCU, and his teams are consistently praised for their incredible toughness and excellence around the hoop. The winning bucket epitomized both qualities and sent TCU to the next round with a chance at the first Sweet 16 berth in program history.

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